Saint and king

23 Sep

The exhibition of the Montenegrin artist Dimitri Popović “The Saint and the King”, organized by the National Museum of Montenegro, opened in Njegoševa Billiard in Cetinje. The exhibition consists of two graphic maps, with 10 works each, dedicated to extremely significant figures of Montenegrin history – Saint Peter and King Nicholas, which were created to mark the anniversaries of the death of our great men (190 years since the death of Peter I and 100 years since the death of King Nicholas).

Although he lives and creates in Zagreb, one of the greatest artists of our time, Dimitrije Popović, is inextricably linked to his Montenegro, its history and culture, which, due to its uniqueness, has been an age-old inspiration for both our creators, as well as travel writers and outsiders – she said. at the opening of the exhibition, the head of the Njegoš Museum, Isidora Kovačević. She pointed out that the arduous life of its rulers and bishops, who had to be conciliators and warriors, and writers and judges, in an effort to preserve peace and coexistence within its borders, was the driving force behind the creation of the supreme art that we are honored to live and whose small part set in Cetinje.

According to academician Pavle Goranović, Cetinje is the reliable source of Dimitrije’s artistic and intellectual being.

– The mythical space in which he was born, the artist upgraded with his own myth, transferred that myth to other environments, and returned to Cetinje again. And the works dedicated to the Saint and the king are a return to that mystical view from Romanovina. If the thought of Karl Kraus is correct that in a real portrait one must recognize which painter painted him, then Dimitrije’s portraits are clearly recognizable, not only because they reflect the core of the famous poetics, but because they reveal the essence of his artistic passion. The artistic thoughts of Dimitrije Popović find a special richness in Montenegrin historical-literary and other themes, where at the center of the event is the attraction of the metaphysical. The artist usually chooses complex, multi-layered figures such as Peter I and King Nicholas, whose characteristics are often contradictory. These are the limiters of the author’s curious line, which certainly reaches Peter I, to whom Montenegro then, and certainly today, owes in a spiritual, historical and creative sense – said Pavle Goranović.

Publicist Marko Špadijer emphasized the phenomenon of Dimitri’s popularity, which is evidenced by 70 independent and over 300 collective exhibitions, 13 monographs, 15 documentaries, 5 books of his essays on art, 4 books of fiction and countless interviews in newspapers and television.

– Artistic preoccupations with biblical themes and efforts to enter the world of their universal narrative with his own visual language, especially in the cycles about Mary Magdalene, Salome, Judith, as well as the icon of the new age of the movie Marilyn Monroe, Dimitrije, with virtuoso drawing, original color compositions, with the sculptural shaping of metal, daring play with human anatomy and emphasized eroticism, as well as theoretical erudition, ensured recognition and reputation in the modern art world – pointed out Špadijer. According to him, Peter I and King Nicholas are two historical figures who symbolize the epochs of Montenegrin history and represent an example that we can still take as a lesson today. Not so that the past would govern the present, but so that history would not repeat itself as the fatal fate of the state and people.

Excerpts from the epistles of Peter I were read by the actor Slobodan Marunović.

The map making project was realized with the support of the National Community of Montenegrins of Croatia.